copper coated zinc pennies

Recently, I picked up some copper coated zinc pennies from my car and close by was a Canadian coin. The pennies looked awful, but the Canadian coin looked pristine. This experience has made me aware these pennies will never stay in even good condition for long. The only pennies that will last will be those collectors keep.

How do you tell them apart. I recently went through a coffee can my wife dug out of her closet, and separated them in to Pre-1982, 1982, and Post-1982.

Keeping the 1982's separate, I wanted to find out how to tell them apart. According to what I've seen, both came in Large Date/Small Date, and my only idea so far is to weigh them individually.

Robert

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Well Robert, there used to be a little see-saw type scale that told you if it was a copper cent or a zinc cent. But, if you go on ebay these days, you can pick up a little scale that's fairly accurate for under $15 shipped. For coin collectors, these can be used for more than just separating cents, so it would be worth buying one in my opinion.